


Self Indugence(Magnus Archives Oneshots)

by sourfroganarchy



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: @ a coffee shop, A cat has a encounter with a Avatar and ends up with scratchys, A fun romance of a rare paring, Admiral is a Persian which means its face is smushed, But im on s3 give me a break, Coffee Shop, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I guess I wrote Jon/Martin, I too fear Georgie, Jk its hurt no comfort, Jon fears Georgie more than the library fees, Jon just thinks he's being friendly, M/M, Martin deserved better treatment in s1, Martin tries to hit on Jon, Michael didnt, Micheal meets the Admiral, Nikola is enby???, Other, Tags May Change, The Circus-freeform, but in a fun way, but smooching plastic cant be pleasent, can a mannequin truly have gender, clown wife could take my skin ANYDAY, did you know that cats with really long fur need to be brushed regularly?, expect pairings that dont make to much sense, first fic, fix it fic I guess, i just changed how they meet, idk - Freeform, is the wiki a good resource?, is this Michael ooc?, its more of a meet cute, its not a au or anything, listen i know Helen is a tory but the spiral isnt, may be ooc, maybe the real treasure was the cat you petted while breaking in and entering, no beta we die like nikola, now the question is will I write Jon/Martin, please let me know if theres any spelling errors I tried, wouldnt you like to know weather boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29025795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourfroganarchy/pseuds/sourfroganarchy
Summary: Enjoy my oneshots, and writing practices. Suggest pairings or fun ideas and I might do them. This is for fun so updates may be slow. Have fun and expect little sense along with wacky situations.(Note I am still on s4 so I may get the character exactly correct, but I try to do as much research and speculation as possible)
Relationships: Jonathon Sims/Martin Blackwood, Nikola Orsinov/Helen Richardson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. The Circus is its own form of Distortion

Helen was bored. One can only wander the impossible hallways so much she did have the Spiral to feed. But she wasn't in the mood. She wanted some real illusions, the best distortion money can buy. So off to the Circus Helen went. Helen knew the Spiral disliked the Stranger but oh how fun it was to watch the acrobats fly through the air and the ‘magicians’ do their tricks. She wanted a bit of fun for a night. To hold her breath in suspension as a woman teetered on the tightrope. Helen knew there was no real danger but in the moment she felt, well, almost human. 

It totally wasn't because she thought the ringmaster was awfully attractive. Not at all. Helen never meant to have a crush on Nikola. She just wanted to take a break where she wasn't the oddest thing in the room. Despite Micheal’s hate for the Stranger, Helen often saw the similarities. After all the uncanny valley was its own sort of lie, wasn't it? She received a few threats for even entering the Strangers domain. 

And still, she sat on those wooden benches. Helen watched the show, clapped when she had to, and only got sideyed a few times. When the show ended she was fully prepared to go, when a striking figure caught her eye. They were clearly inhuman in the way they moved, disjointed and wrong. The face they wore was painted, as in with actual paint, with red lips to match their ringmaster's coat. Everything about them should scream, to any sane person at least, that this wasn't a normal thing. Just Helen’s type. When the mannequin introduced themselves to Helen as ‘Nikola’, her heart leaped in her throat at the sound of their voice. It had such a magnificent quality to it. 

Their conversation ended quickly as it started, with two brutes of men calling Nikola over. Helen's disappointment was immense, but she could feel it in her (non-existent) bones that she had other things to do. 

Helen would visit the Circus again many times over. And many times over she would duck out before properly talking to Nikola. Helen felt so nervous around them like she was a schoolgirl about to ask a boy a few years older. Nikola was just a monster as she was, just as odd. Helen’s feelings made no sense to her? So she decided to go up to Nikola, not with words, but with a gift. That was customary in a culture, right? Helen made a ribbon, with fractals that should make any human very ill. A monster had no such qualms. When the ribbon was presented and Nikola's eyes lit up. They spent quite a while staring at it before grabbing Helen’s hand. 

And for a moment Hele was scared to hurt them. That her fingers were knives meant to injure. But then the cool plastic reminded her of who she was dealing with. Nikola thanked her and then tied the ribbon around her tophat. The ribbon was a bit too short so Helen made it longer. Then they walked together. An odd sort of friendship was born that day, a friendship that blossomed into something a bit more. Helen could not hold the level of permanency to be a proper girlfriend but Nikola did not want that. Nikola wanted someone to walk with around the Circus. Someone to complain about how long the Unknowing was taking. Helen could do that. 

Their first kiss(and last) was in front of the carousel. They had just made their rounds together when Nikola stopped. Grabbing Helen's hand she asked if she could do something. When Helen confusedly agreed, they kissed her. It was for a mere moment and was a very interesting thing to experience. Helen never wanted it to happen again, due to Nikola’s plastic nature, but the sentiment was delightful. 

Kissing wasn't in the cards but hugging, handholding, and general affection were. Helen preferred that. Even when she was human she never enjoyed most aspects of dating. Nikola didn't expect those parts, and shared similar views. It was a match in hell. Helen often found herself thinking of Nikola at the worst times. But it kept her grip on reality, which the Spiral did not enjoy. 

Then the day came. Helen knew it was coming, the day Nikola must die. Maybe Nikola did too. They walked together for a final time, before embracing. Nikola was surprised and Helen had to fight tears for the first time. And then she left through her door. Maybe it wasn't worth it to grow attached. 

After all, you can't save everyone.


	2. An Admiral Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Micheal pays Georgie's flat a visit and finds a furry friend

Georgie Barkers flat wasn't anything particularly special. Georgie wasn't anything special. So why did the Archivist care about her? That was what Micheal was trying to figure out. Wandering down this sensical flat he examined the rooms. A large collection of paranormal books was slightly interesting. A small room that was made into a recording studio, and a decently messy bedroom. Nothing to note. Micheal didn't know what he wanted to find but this wasn't it. 

Then a small ‘mreow’ caught his attention. On top of the radiator was an immensely large white cat. Its face was smushed and its eyes seemed to have no pupils, due to how dark they were. The cat then stretched as if it had all the time in the world, and maybe it did, before hopping off the radiator. Its tag jangled and Micheal could read the writing on it. 

“Hello Admiral. What are you?” Micheal crouched down as the Admiral sniffed his shoe. Then the cat pushed its face into his hands. Micheal was delighted by the lack of fear. So he gave the Admiral a small scratch on its head. The sheer amount of fur had hidden the Admiral’s small size. Micheal laughed in amusement. 

“If the Archivist was here I suspect he wouldn't like this.” Which earned purring from the cat. Micheal's nails did catch on some tangles in the fur, which the Admiral did not like. But a small brush was on the coffee table, next to some papers. Micheal hesitantly brushed the cat, taking care not to hurt it. No point in hurting something that doesn't fear him. In that moment he had a small attachment to the Admiral. 

After a bit of this the cat put its paws on his thigh. It wanted to go on his lap? Micheal sat and watched the cat hopped on him. It took awhile for the Admiral to get comfortable, and it kneaded any ‘flesh’ its paws landed on. Then the cat fell asleep, curled in the monster lap. It was peaceful, and Micheal, being the creature he is, was unable to realize how long he sat there. But he did know when the Archivist was approaching the flat. So he picked up the Admiral and placed it on the couch. The cat was very upset at that, not that Micheal saw. He was already in his hallways. 

If the Archivist had any idea that Micheal had entered the flat, he showed no sign. All Georgie saw was an angrily meowing Admiral with its luscious fur more smooth than it usually was.

“Well I guess we won't have to brush you tonight now will we? Don't give me that look, you hate it most of the time” She said, scritching the top of its head. The Admiral just meowed and headbutted her hand.


	3. A Table For Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon goes to a coffee shop to read and relax, and he meets someone new

Reading in a nearly empty coffee shop was a special sort of calm. The heavy smell of coffee grounds and tea, the chatter was quiet enough to be background noise and the decently comfortable chairs. Jon had a large stack of books, and he was slowly working through it. It was mostly the paranormal sort of books. Borrowed from the library and Georgie, which was a dangerous thing to drink around. Georgie would kill him if a single drop ended up on the page. Jon carefully sipped his tea as he flipped through his current book.

It was thick and leatherbound, its lettering faded and unreadable. So far it was about the history of haunted hotels. It was fairly interesting, and Georgie had left sticky notes with witty comments. Jon even cracked a smile. 

He was too engrossed to notice the coffee shop slowly filling up. Or his tea being empty, but all that came suddenly when he got a tap on his shoulder. Jon startled, snapping his book shut. 

“Oh- sorry- um is this seat taken?” A rather big guy nervously pointed to the chair across from Jon. After a beat of cursing internally for not taking one of the single tables, Jon ran a hand through his hair and nodded. 

“Be my guest” He sighed, restacking the books that had been slowly spreading out. The man took a seat, setting a steaming tea down. He then was awkwardly tapping his fingers on the table. The man wouldn't look Jon in the eyes. But he did offer his hand.

“I'm Martin”

“Jon” They shook hands. Martin's hands were warm and soft, and Jon had a sliver of disappointment when they went back to the tabletop. Martin went to staring out the window, occasionally eyes flicking to Jon. And Jon resumed his reading. At least he tried too. He ended up accidentally studying the man across from him. Curly strawberry blonde hair, a scattering of freckles, and a gentle face. The cable-knit sweater Martin added to this level of softness. And Jon thought that was awfully appealing. 

“You, um, like Edgar Allen Poe?” Martin asked, pointing to the book on the top of the stack. 

“It's not the worst. I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, so I suppose I'm biased” Jon pushed his glasses farther up on the bridge of his nose. Martin nodded before tilting his head. 

“Are the short stories any good? I’ve never read them”

“If you like macabre, then they are delightful.” 

“Eh, not the biggest fan. But I like his poems so I guess they can't be too different.”

“I guess not”

A beat of silence spread between them. They just looked at each other as the coffee shop bustled around them. Before Jon decided ‘fuck it, Im already here’. 

“What do you do for a living?” Jon asked, shutting his book. A good, easy question, usually. Martin floundered, stuttering before sighing. 

“Well it's- it's complicated” Martin was back to avoiding Jon’s eyes “What about you?”

“Also complicated,” Jon said, now regretting the question. 

A few more awkward attempts at conversation were ended by a phone ringing. Martin apologized before answering. Jon tried to not eavesdrop but it was hard to not recognize Elias’s voice. Martin said something about ‘being there on Monday’ and had a wide smile on his face. When the call ended, Martin let out a relieved breath of air. 

“So I got a job,” He said and Jon couldn't help but wonder how long Martin had been looking for a job.

“At the Magnus Institute, correct. I didn't mean to listen in but Elias has a… memorable voice” 

“Oh, um, you work there don't you” 

“Yes” 

“Ok then, uh, listen” Martin took a deep breath “CanIhaveyournumber?” He asked quickly. Jon blinked in genuine surprise. 

“What?” He said plainly, half expecting this was some tea induced hallucination. 

“Well erm I- you don't have- it's just because we're going to work together and you seem nice so I thought that maybe- nevermind- I'm just going to go” Martin rambled, getting up to go. Jon, in a beautiful moment of realizing he might lose this chance, rushedly pulled out his phone and presented it to Martin. It was Martin’s turn to be surprised, but he recovered quickly. As he typed in his number, Jon realized how the afternoon turned out the exact opposite of the way he planned. But he got a new number in his phone, and maybe a friend? Or at the very least a coworker he won't despise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me ideas. I'll take ship pairs or just fun scenarios, (or literally anything).   
> I have a lot of ideas and none at all which is a dilemma I never thought I'd have.


End file.
